Meditations Upon the Abyss
by Nevermore
Summary: Unfortunately, life can't be all about romance some major players take some time to think through recent revelations regarding the origins of Manticore, and what that could mean for them both.
1. Max

James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.

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Meditations Upon the Abyss

By

Nevermore

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Chapter 1 – Max

Manticore has been around for far longer than I, or anyone, ever thought. It's still hard to wrap my brain around this one. It's bad enough that I got my ass handed to me by a couple of guys that lacked a distinguishing barcode. But this…

Lydecker trained my sibs and me to handle anything that ever came our way, but I don't think he ever expected us to be threatened one-on-one by a normal. It's not supposed to work like that, and it's something that's really concerning me in a way I'm still trying to understand. What can this mean?

Logan's been wracking his brain, trying to figure out some way to figure this all out for me. It's to be expected, I guess. He can't come anywhere near me without endangering his life, so to show his affection he's resolved to find an answer to my latest, and greatest, riddle – who were those guys that were working with White, and what's their connection to Manticore? It's an important question, but the more I dwell on it, the more I think it's actually the wrong question to ask.

We have evidence that these guys, whoever they are, are connected in some way to ancient civilizations. From the way they took my best and threw theirs at me, I can only guess that they're the product of some pretty special selective breeding. It sorta blew my mind at first, like some kind of lame-ass plot thread on that old pre-Pulse show, the X-Files, but then I started to think about it all more seriously.

I mean, let's face it, once you eliminate all that which is possible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth, right? So they had no bar codes… Well, Joshua claims to have been the first of the Manticore products, and apparently he's the only one that never got branded. So odds are that these guys were indeed not one of the X-series. Next, they could, perhaps, be part of some other government's genetic engineering program, or maybe they were hyped up on some new performance enhancing drug treatment. Those both sound good, but neither takes into account the anthropological evidence we found linking the Manticore symbol to something that was obviously much older.

As much as I don't like it, I have to admit that the proper question here is this – what is Manticore's connection to these guys? They were around first, so it's only logical to conclude that my sibs and I were created for some reason that has to do with them. The fact that our program's Manticore symbol is exactly like theirs pretty much proves that fact.

Sandaman, who Joshua says was his father… the creator… the man that pretty much created the Manticore project… he carried a cane with a Manticore on it. The bronze figure was exactly like the one in the old symbols from ancient cultures. I don't believe in coincidences… there has to be a connection. So, what is it? Even better, _why_ is it?

From the facts that I've seen, there are only two reasons the man would have gone to the trouble of creating the U.S. government's Manticore project. After all, he had to have known that there was already a group of super-humans walking around, so why make more? From what I can tell, these guys were able to use millennia of breeding to achieve the same end that Manticore's transgenic engineering did, and all that without suffering the same side effects as the X-series has.

So theory number one goes that Sandaman, for some reason, felt that the super-human products of the breeding program were becoming a threat. So how do you destroy an army of super-humans? You create another one, of course. Seems logical, right? I thought so at first, too. But it just doesn't feel right.

First off, why would they have gone to the trouble of engineering amphibious transgenics? Unless some of the breeding program's individuals are amphibious, this seems like a waste of resources. Besides, if we were intended to stop the breeding program's soldiers, why were we never told of them? That seems like a bit of an oversight.

Theory number two is what I'm starting to feel more confident about. I think they might have gotten as far as they can by only using human DNA. Think about it – you can breed the fastest woman with the fastest man every generation, but eventually you'll reach a point where human muscle and bone can only achieve so much. Or even more likely, after maybe twenty generations of breeding the two fastest people, you'd end up having a subject that was so superior that breeding him with anyone else would only decrease those traits in his progeny. You'd eventually start diluting the perfection, unless they started inbreeding the best, generation after generation, and inbreeding is usually going to detract from more traits than it will enhance. In the long term, it would doom the project.

And why the third baby each generation? That makes no sense, either. I remember reading once that birth defects come in threes, and are most likely to be present in every third child that's born. Are they actually _trying_ to produce a baby with defects… or mutations? Maybe that does make sense, though. If the third child is more likely to be radically different from the others, then it's there that the greatest potential exists for adding something unique to the gene pool.

And what better way to add something unique to the gene pool than to start splicing in animal DNA? If you want the perfect being, you obviously can't begin and end with a human. We might be the most intelligent species on the planet, but we can't out-bite a shark, outrun a cheetah, outmuscle an ape, or regenerate limbs like some reptiles.

So why am I the one they're looking for? Why is it important that I have no junk DNA? Am I just supposed to be some kind of brood mare to the Manticore breeding program? If that was my destiny, then Sandaman likely knew it from the beginning. I can also be pretty sure that Renfro knew it, too. But for some reason, Lydecker didn't. They must have brought him in out of necessity, because the money they needed to do their research came with the stipulation that it was undertaken in the interest of creating the prefect soldier. That was Lydecker's role. He must have found out, somehow.

If he's alive, he's probably looking into this right now, maybe following the same thought process I am. I can't believe I'm actually about to think this, but I need to see Lydecker. I need to find out what he knows, or at least suspects. I need help. Months ago I went to Gillette to destroy Manticore. That was the operation, plain and simple. It seems that I unwittingly did the powers that be a favor, though. All these potential mates are now all over North America, without any U.S. government bean counters to keep an eye on things.

Manticore just got far more dangerous than it ever was when they made me. I need to know more…

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To be continued…………………………………


	2. Logan

James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.

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Author's Note: Well, I hadn't planned on continuing this story beyond one chapter (though I'd forgotten to include 'Fin' at the end when it was originally posted). Then last night I realized a crucial point that I had overlooked, so I decided to write a second chapter. So I may continue on after this, and I may not. Obviously, there's lots of story to be told along this path, but I'm still debating whether or not I would prefer to have Cameron and Eglee tell this story instead.

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Chapter 2 - Logan

I've seen the way Max has been lately, completely preoccupied with the revelation that Manticore is more – much more – than she had ever thought. It's good to see her like this, though. First of all, it forces her to think about something else besides the damn virus that's been standing between us. Dwelling on that isn't any better for her than it is for me, and I've been going crazy trying to find just about anything else to occupy my thoughts. Maybe that's why I've started to become as preoccupied with Manticore as she ever was.

I know Max isn't too happy about my interest in all of this, but I know that she'll never be able to piece it all together on her own. While I care for Max deeply, I have to admit that she isn't exactly the most introspective and self-aware person in the world. She's bound to overlook some vital points that only someone on the outside of the program would be likely to pay attention to.

The first one of those is Tinga. Max's wayward sister displayed the one valuable trait that none of the other X-5's apparently did – the ability to pass on her trans-genetically engineered traits. Something in the X-5 genetic code actually caused the DNA to 'stabilize,' for lack of a better word, in later generations. I can only guess that with the rest of the X-5's, the non-human DNA likely became the junk DNA in their progeny. All except for Tinga, that is.

Now we know that Max has no junk DNA of her own. So does that mean she would also likely pass on these traits? She'd almost have to, since there are no areas in her gene sequence that could become dormant in her offspring. So if all that is true, then Max is obviously going to be a huge prize for whoever gets her; but does that mean she's in more danger, or less?

Tinga had this quality, and they killed her, carving her up like the goose that laid the golden egg, likely discovering too late that they had destroyed their great treasure. Of course, back when Renfro did that – and I do believe it was Renfro, and not Lydecker that made that call – there was still the Manticore lab with its DNA samples. If they found that they had inadvertently made a bad decision, they always could have just grown a new Tinga. That's probably not an option now with Max… unless there's yet another lab we don't know about. Chances are they'll need to take her alive. But who are 'they?'

Sandaman… he's the key. I know Max wants to find him because she believes he would be able to cure this damn virus they gave me. To be honest, I couldn't care less. I would love to hold Max again, but there are more important things in the world than physical contact, and I can still love Max from afar. Max just obviously hasn't thought this all through. There's great danger to be found in Sandaman, of that much I'm certain.

The man created the U.S. government's Manticore project, and he likely knew about the ages-old breeding program, too. That means he's either one of them, or a member of some group that's opposed to them. Either way, chances are Max's new enemy, White, is familiar in some way with Sandaman. My bet is that Sandaman is White's superior. Call it journalistic instinct, but that's my theory, even though it might not make much sense.

If I was Sandaman, and I had any control over White, I would never allow him to just destroy the transgenics that escaped the fire. Each of them presents an opportunity to add tremendous variety to the breeding program's overall gene pool. But then again, if the traits weren't going to be passed along to the next generation anyway, then the escapees would have to be destroyed as a potential threat. Yeah, that makes sense… I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.

When Zack, Max, Krit, and Syl attacked Manticore, they demonstrated not only their superior abilities, but even more dangerously, the will to use them to frightening effect. Without Zack watching over them all like he used to, the newly escaped transgentics lack a leader, at least for now. If someone comes along, though… all bets are off. It would almost be poetic justice for it all to end like that.

Imagine it – the powers that be within the Manticore breeding program realize that they really can't take human DNA any farther, that their most recent generations haven't progressed at the rate the earlier ones had. Maybe they even started to experience a decline in their abilities. To remedy this situation, they used the developing science of genetic engineering to dramatically expand their potential gene pool. They find Tinga, who likely would have been able to mate with one of their males and come up with one hell of a specimen as a child, but they killed her to find out what made her so special, likely to duplicate tat success in later generations. Then they lost their lab, and their collection of subjects escaped.

A Pandora's Box of problems was unleashed on the world, and each of these problems is getting older, growing stronger every day. They were trained by the military, so they can use their superior traits more effectively than Sandaman and his cronies would probably like. There are now, quite obviously, two groups of super-humans roaming about – one created through millennia of selective breeding, and one created within a few short years, the result of genetic engineering.

I'm reminded of a phrase that I heard a while back, something about how each generation has to kill its parents, metaphorically speaking, of course, in order to carve out its own niche in the world. In the instant case, I fear that the phrase won't apply metaphorically. The members of the breeding program have obviously decided to wipe out the results of their experiments. Assuming Max and her ilk can get organized, get a leader, there can only be one result – war. And people like me, the 'normals,' will get caught in the middle. God, I can't wait until I try to get to sleep tonight…

Max is a target, there's no denying it, and as much as she likes to fly solo, there's no way she can win this war alone. I guess it's a good thing I've been keeping tabs on every one of the X-5's, X-6's, and X-8's that I helped across the border. I think she's gonna need their help. She's also going to need a CO. I know she's going to hate me for this if she ever finds out, but I have to find Lydecker. He's a smart guy… I can't imagine he hasn't already come to the same conclusions I have.

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To be continued?……………………………


	3. Lydecker

James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.

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Author's Note: I continue to plod along in this story as more occurs to me, though I can't be certain if I'll continue past this chapter. Obviously, there's lots of story to be told along this path, but I'm still debating whether or not I would prefer to have Cameron and Eglee tell this story instead. (Right now, as the title suggests, this is only the ruminations of characters, and not a true plot that carries a storyline along a developing arc. To even attempt that kind of a tale would take more time and effort than I feel I really have.)

Also, I would like to thank **limona** for her feedback concerning the absence of character in these meditations. I think I've addressed that shortcoming a little more effectively in this chapter.

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Chapter 3 – Lydecker

"It's the night of February 28th, beginning of Tape six," Colonel Donald Lydecker muttered as he pressed the record button on his mini-cassette recorder. The device was an artifact, an incredibly useful item that had given way to more technologically advanced machines. _Just like me,_ the colonel noted sadly as he thought about himself, and soldiers like him, eventually being replaced by soldiers like his kids. _But of course, that'll never happen if I can't figure out what the hell is going on now,_ he added.

"To be perfectly honest, every bit of information I've discovered relating to this apparent millennia-old breeding program has astounded me," the colonel said, making certain his voice was directed at the small recorder as he placed it on the nightstand. "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this was possible. I'm not even talking about the science, either. Sure, I guess you could make an argument that it's a preposterous notion to suggest that humans knew enough about inheritability of traits as far back as two thousand years ago. Then again, a reclusive monk named Gregor Medel was able to figure out the basics just by paying attention to the carnations and pea plants that he grew in his garden. Maybe it's not such a stretch to conclude that someone else may have had a similar insight thousands of years ago. I suppose it could have happened as far back as ancient Egypt. They were a fairly enlightened people, after all. The Ancient Egyptians' math was good enough to figure out an incredibly accurate calendar, build the pyramids, and discover that the Earth is round. Why not also discover inheritability, too? It's not like I'm holding them up to the standard of Watson and Crick or anything.

"No, the science isn't the problem. My understanding of human nature is the greatest stumbling block to my actually believing what I've discovered. I'm still having trouble fathoming the awe-inspiring level of commitment this kind of a project requires. Thousands of years ago, someone had to figure out genetics, then live long enough to test and record his data, then find a student who was also capable of understanding the basic concepts, and finally teach that student everything before he himself died. Then, to begin the program, this man would then need to gather the greatest human specimens available…

"On a side note, remember to look into mythology. Ancient warfare often revolved around the meeting of two champions in the area between two armies, something akin to the stories about Hector and Achilles. If such men actually did exist, they were likely early products of this very same Manticore breeding program." Lydecker pushed the pause button on his tape recorder and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes and searching the second-rate hotel room for the slightest feature of interest. All he saw, again, was the fifth of Johnny Walker he had bought a month earlier. It was still unopened, and still calling his name. _I can't believe I'm carrying that around with me,_ the colonel thought miserably. It was his newest test, the result of his humiliation at being so totally in the dark about all that had been occurring around him in Gillette. He had allowed himself to be manipulated and used, and the only conclusion the colonel had reached was that his failure necessarily had to be the result of weakness. So he now carried a bottle of whiskey everywhere he went, constantly feeling the desire to have just the slightest sip, continually testing his resolve, his will, fighting to become as strong as he believed he once was. Tossing aside his distracting reverie, Lydecker started the tape again and concentrated on the issue at hand.

"The kwisatz haderach… that's what Frank Herbert called the Supreme Being in his sci-fi book, Dune. I remember seeing the movie by David Lynch when I was a boy. Maybe the idea of creating a super-human first entered my mind back then. Whether it did or not, though, I'm obviously not the only one to get the idea. Millennia… it's almost impossible to even deal with the scope of this. Whoever started the program is likely long forgotten, his bones turning to dust centuries ago. Hell, his entire people are probably also gone and forgotten, except maybe by those that are still a part of it all.

"Whoever started this must have gotten the best specimens available at the time," the colonel continued, returning to an earlier train of thought. "Then had them produce offspring that were presumably superior to their peers. But in what way were they superior? We're talking about ancient civilizations, so I can only assume that strength… physical superiority… was the goal. My kids were engineered to be as intellectually, as well as physically, superior, but that wouldn't have been the goal in this breeding program. In ancient civilizations, no matter how enlightened they were, might always made right. It wasn't until the development of gunpowder, when anyone with average eyesight and two hands could feasibly become an effective soldier, that physical superiority was no longer the touchstone of greatness. At that point, in order to remain the greatest, these products of the breeding program would also have needed to become smarter.

"So while they've probably been mating the best physical specimens for millennia, it's likely only been for a few centuries that the brightest of each generation were even considered for breeding. And what would that have done to the overall gene pool? Surely they weakened the physical attributes of their specimens by bringing in intellectually superior brood mares that inevitably wouldn't have been up to par as far as physical prowess is concerned. Great care would have needed to be taken at that point." Lydecker stood and began to pace around the room, allowing his thoughts to wander a slight bit, pondering each and every minor detail he had learned.

"The one advantage I can think of, if indeed my kids have any advantages at all, is superior intelligence. And I can't even be certain of that. As for disadvantages, well… there's at least one huge one – they know about us, and maybe two or three of my kids know about the program that lay behind mine. My kids are being hunted, either to remove them as a threat, or to add their genetic material to this breeding program's gene pool." Lydecker stopped dead in his tracks and walked over to the cassette recorder, lifting it from the nightstand and holding it up to his face.

"Once again I'm drawn to the same conclusion," he muttered, arriving at the same words that he had already spoken on tapes one through five. "There's a war that's been declared against my kids. It's a war that they're not prepared for, that they likely don't even realize is being waged. I've seen how Max and her siblings have reacted to me – how they've learned to hate me once they were in the real world and were able to put my actions in some kind of context. I can only assume all the others have done the same, now that they're also out. All of my kids – every last one – must despise me with every ounce of their beings. But they also need me more than ever, though they don't know it. They need to organize. They need a leader. They need to be all they can be. And me… I need to get back into the action. I need to find Max, so that I can get our people back together."

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